LEAF AND TENDRIL 



fruit and even green peas are in their bill of fare. 

 When a bird like the orchard oriole is restricted 

 in its range, it is quite certain that its food supply 

 is equally restricted. 



Of birds that live upon tree-trunks, here are two 

 of similar habits, one protectively colored and the 

 other not, and yet the one that is of bright tints is 

 far the more numerous. I refer to the nuthatch and 

 the brown creeper. The creeper is so near the color 

 of the bark of the trees upon which it feeds that one 

 has great difficulty in seeing it, while the nuthatch 

 in its uniform of black, white, and blue, contrasts 

 strongly with its surroundings. The creeper works 

 up and around the tree, rarely showing anything 

 but its bark-colored, back, while the nuthatch hops 

 up and down and around the tree with head lifted, 

 constantly exposing its white throat and breast. 

 But the nuthatch is the better feeder, it eats nuts 

 as well as the larvae of insects, while the creeper 

 seems limited to a minute kind of food which it 

 obtains with that slender, curved bill. It can probe, 

 but not break, with this instrument, and is never 

 seen feeding upon the ground, like the nuthatch. 

 I am bound to state, however, that the latter 

 bird has another advantage over the demure creeper, 

 which may offset the danger that might come to 

 it from its brighter color — it is more supple and 

 alert. Its contact with the tree is like that of the 

 rocker with the floor, while the line of the creeper's 

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